Hospitals lose millions every year providing medical treatment to uninsured patients. As a result, hospitals end up writing off the majority of those bills as charitable care or take a smaller percentage from governments or the patient.

To help hospital systems recoup what they are owed, Toral Law, a statewide personal injury law firm, has begun offering third-party liability legal recovery solutions to help hospitals capture a greater portion of these patients’ bills.
third party proceeds, but others, like Palm Beach County, have a hybrid law, which only allows public hospitals to assert liens. Hospitals underutilize lien laws because there is no uniform legal intervention strategy in place. That’s what we bring to the table.”

“We can partner with a hospital’s existing efforts to maximize in house collection rates,” he added. “Toral Law can be a strategic legal partner in the revenue cycle management process that understands the meaning of and can deliver a high-impact, low-risk solution to boost cash flow and resolve low collection rates for many uninsured patient accounts.”
“With more than 20 years of personal injury
experience, we are highly skilled in negotiating hospitalbillsforourclients,andhavehelpedtens
of thousands of patients get their hospital bills reduced,” explained Senior Partner and founder, Frank Toral. “Now we’ve decided to use our substantial experience in this area to represent hospitals, helping them recoup more money on the personal injury settlements that patients receive. We know this market well, and we understand the tactics and strategies used in settling outstanding hospital bills in personal injury cases. It’s the classic idiomatic truth of fighting fire with fire.”

Toral gives the example of a motorist who has had an accident with a FedEx truck. “That person goes to the hospital with a multitude of injuries, and later, if FedEx is found to be at fault, or decides to settle the case, the patient may be compensated for his/her injuries,” he explained. “But if the patient doesn’t have private health insurance, his or her treatment has to be written off, or the hospital needs to settle for a much smaller reimbursement rate because the patient is now considered a ‘self- pay account’ or uninsured. If there is a third party recovery, hospitals often get less than 25 cents on the dollar from the patient’s attorney when attempting to settle the debt with the hospital.”

By partnering with Toral Law, these same hospital systems can attach a lien to the patient’s settlement, and lawyers will negotiate for the maximum recovery for the hospital. Toral Law actively participates in the third party liability litigation by intervening in the case on behalf of the hospital.

“Florida is very unique in that some counties have hospital lien laws, while others do not,” explained Toral. “Some hospitals have lien laws that allow hospitals to enforce their lien against third party proceeds, but others, like Palm Beach County, have a hybrid law, which only allows public hospitals to assert liens. Hospitals underutilize lien laws because there is no uniform legal intervention strategy in place. That’s what we bring to the table.”

“We can partner with a hospital’s existing efforts to maximize in house collection rates,” he added. “Toral Law can be a strategic legal partner in the revenue cycle management process that understands the meaning of and can deliver a high-impact, low-risk solution to boost cash flow and resolve low collection rates for many uninsured patient accounts.”

Toral Law’s innovative process enables them to use aggressive, early intervention strategies to evaluate the liability, damages, coverage and parties involved to recover on third party liability claims for hospitals of any kind. “It’s a legal solution to a financial problem,” said Toral, adding that Toral Law is not a collections agency. “This is a highly specialized legal area that enables us to use the court system to

existing processes with little impact on existing resources, and work on a contingency fee. Because we are contingency-based, we go for the maximum settlement, which is a win for both our client and us. We understand how to value cases, which is vital in negotiating hospital liens with other personal injury law firms.”

The primary collection problem for hospitals is the uninsured patient. “Ironically, through Toral Law’s legal recovery solution, we can help turn uninsured patients into insured patients, which often results in reimbursement rates that are higher than commercial or government payors,” said Toral.